The Job Satisfaction Definition Psychology Essay

The Job Satisfaction Definition Psychology Essay Job satisfaction, insimple words is an individuals emotional reaction to the job itself. It is a set of favorable or unfavorable feelings with which the employees view their work. When a person says that he has high job satisfaction, it means that he really like his job feels good about it and values his job highly. According to E.A. Locke, job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experience. Job satisfaction is the amount of pleasure or contentment associated with a job -if you like your job intensely you will experience job dissatisfaction.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Andrew Bin Job satisfaction is the set of favourable or unfavourable feelings  with employees view their work.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Keith Davis and Newstrom According to Fieldman and Arnold, Job satisfaction will be defined as the amount of the overall positive effort or (feelings) that individuals have towards their job Job satisfaction is the mental feeling of favorableness which an individual has about his job. So it is one of the important factors which have drawn attention of managers in the organization. Benefits of job satisfaction study Job satisfaction study can produce positive, neutral and negative results. The importance of the study is explained below. (1) The study informs the management about the level of satisfaction of the employees in the various services offered to them by the organization. (2)Job satisfaction study is a useful for identifying related problems, for assessing the response of the employees to various alternatives and also for encouraging managers to modify their original plans approximately. (3) Job satisfaction study is a useful way to determine certain training needs. (4) The study is tangible expression of managements interest in employee welfare which gives employees a reason to feel better towards management. EFFECT OF LOW JOB SATISFACTION Job satisfaction has a variety of effects these effects are. High turnover of employees. High absenteeism. Tardiness. Low employee performance. High turnover of employees Low satisfaction is associated with high employee turnover. Employee turnover means the proportion of employees leaving an organization. Most satisfied employees are less likely to think about quitting and searching for a new job or announce their intention to quit and thus one more likely to stay with their employer longer. Employee turnover has several negative consequences especially if the turnover rate is high. Difficult to replace derived employees. Direct and indirect costs to the organization since replacing workers are expensive. The feeling of demoralization because of the loss of valued Co-workers. Both work and social patterns may be disrupted until replacements are found. The organizations reputation in the community may suffer. High absenteeism Absenteeism refers to the frequency of absence of a job holder from the workplace either unexcused absence due to some avoidable reasons or long absence due to some unavoidable reasons. Tardiness The impact of low job satisfaction is tardiness. A tardy employee is one who arrives at work late. Tardiness is a type of short period absenteeism ranging from a few minutes to several hours for each event and it is another way in which employees. Withdraw from active involvement in the organization. it may impede the timely completion of work and disrupt productive relationship with Co-workers. A pattern of tardiness is often a symptom of negative attitude requiring managerial attention. Low employee performance If the rewards are seen as fair and equitable the improved satisfaction develops because employees feel that they are receiving rewards in proportion to higher performance. On the other hand if rewards are seen as inadequate for ones level of satisfaction leads to either great or lesser commitment which affects efforts and eventually the performance. Article: 1 WORK TEAMS AND JOB SATIFACTION Authors Laura Newmark, Management Consultant, Boone, NC, USA Jerry W. Koehler, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA Thomas W. Philippe, St. Petersburg College, St Petersburg FL, USA Source: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, Volume 8, Number 2, 2008 One of the most significant changes in modern organizations over the past few decades has been the increased use of work teams. Many organizations have embraced beliefs that people are untapped resources, that people who do the work are in the best position to improve the organizational processes, and the most effective method to utilize human resources is to form work teams. Even though many organizations have adopted the team approach, it still remains to be seen whether or not work teams positively affect organization members. Although there is Ample evidence that organizations have improved their quality and productivity by utilizing work teams, the overall affects teams have on the organization and organization members is still uncertain. There has not been sufficient research on the positive or negative affects of work teams. The definition of work teams accommodates the use of many labels. It includes autonomous work teams, semiautonomous work teams, self managed teams, process-improvement teams, self-determining teams, cross-functional teams, quality circles, etc. There are five themes that emerge from qualitative analysis they are (1)commitment, attitude, and willingness within team; (2)Knowledge, skills, abilities, and experience of team members; (3) team work and ability to work as a team; (4) internal team leadership (5) communication and trust within the team. In fact, the affect was just the opposite; people who did not work in a team had significantly higher job satisfaction than team members. The results indicate that working on teams may not have a positive affect on team member job satisfaction. This was a significant finding since job satisfaction has long been a significant variable for determining organizational effectiveness. Since many organizations are moving to team based organizations, the data indicates that this movement may cause organizations to experience significant problems in implementing teams, particularly in the area of job satisfaction. Article: 2 JOB SATISFACTION AND RETENTION STRATEGIES Author Safdar Rehman Director (HR), Super Solutions Consultancy, Canada Source: Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal (2012) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Vol. 4, No. 1 Phillips, (1998) and Meglino, Ravlin, De Nisi, (2000) studied that precise and pragmatic job information during the recruitment and selection process was linked with positive work outcomes like job satisfaction, low turnover and enhanced job performance. Applicants who felt a better fit between their knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) and their job requirements were likely to accept a job offer. Campion (1991) found that inescapable turnover was characteristically viewed as critical to an organization. The notion that turnover decreases organizational performance was supported by the most of researchers. Mobley (1982) suggested That, turnover might interrupt job performance when an employee who intended to leave became less efficient and effective. Shaw, Gupta, Delery, 2002 found empirically that voluntary turnover was associated with the inferior organizational performance. Other researchers suggested that turnover could improve performance. One probable advantage of turnover was the exclusion of poor performing employees. Furthermore, Staw et al; (1986) proposed that turnover might enhance performance if most of the turnover was by employees with longer or very short tenure. Article: 3 JOB SATISFACTION AND WORK LIFE BALANCE Author Millicent F. Nelson, Middle Tennessee State University Richard J. Tarpey, Middle Tennessee State University Source: Academy of Health Care Management Journal, Volume 6, Number 1, 2010 Work-family conflict studies have also indicated that there is a difference in levels of work-family conflict perception between males and females. Several of these studies have also indicated that the majority of pressure females experience comes from family demands rather than work demands especially when the family has children. One possible explanation is that a larger portion of family role tasks that are time constrained typically falls on the female of the family. While males usually assume responsibility for tasks such as home maintenance, females normally are responsible for tasks that must be done on a regular basis regardless of the quantity or pressures of work demands. Therefore, while many generally male dominated family tasks can be put off if work demands increase, the same is not true for the female dominated tasks such as laundry, cooking, or direct child care. Therefore, the propensity for females to experience work-family conflict is high due to irregular, inflexible or long work hours, potential limited choice in work schedules, and personal or family demands. Additionally, with families can experience more demanding family role tasks in addition to their potentially high demand work role tasks causing a further perception of a lack of balance. The implications of the work schedule on an individuals ability to achieve a work-family balance are clear and demonstrated in previous studies. An employees negative perception of a work schedule should increase the potential for the existence of work-family conflict through the perception of the scheduled hours as too excessive, irregular, or inflexible. THEORIES OF JOB SATISFACTION The main theoretical approaches to job satisfaction are given below: 1. Need Fulfillment Theory According to this theory a person is satisfied when he gets from his job what he wants. In other words, job satisfaction will vary directly with the extend to which those needs of an individual which can be satisfied actually. Thus, job satisfaction is positively related to the degree to which ones needs are fulfilled. 2. Equity Theory Under this theory, it is believed that a persons job satisfaction depends upon his perceived equity as determined by his input -output balance in comparison with the input -output balance of others. Every individual compares his rewards with those of a reference group. If he feels his rewards are equitable in comparison with others doing similar work, he feels satisfied. Job satisfaction is thus a function of the degree to which job characteristics meet the desires of the reference group. Equity theory takes into account not only the needs of an individual but also the opinion of the reference group to which the individual looks for guidance. 3. Two-factor theory (motivator-hygiene theory) Frederick Herzbergs Two-factor theory (also known as Motivator Hygiene Theory) attempts to explain satisfaction and motivation in the workplace. This theory states that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are driven by different factors motivation and hygiene factors, respectively. An employees motivation to work is continually related to job satisfaction of a subordinate. Motivation can be seen as an inner force that drives individuals to attain personal and organizational goals (Hoskinson, Porter, Wrench, p.  133). Motivating factors are those aspects of the job that make people want to perform, and provide people with satisfaction, for example achievement in work, recognition, promotion opportunities. These motivating factors are considered to be intrinsic to the job, or the work carried out. Hygiene factors include aspects of the working environment such as pay, company policies, supervisory practices, and other working conditions. While Hertzbergs model has stimulated much research, researchers have been unable to reliably empirically prove the model, with Hackman Oldham suggesting that Hertzbergs original formulation of the model may have been a methodological artefact. Furthermore, the theory does not consider individual differences, conversely predicting all employees will react in an identical manner to changes in motivating/hygiene factors. Finally, the model has been criticized in that it does not specify how motivating/hygiene factors are to be measured. 4. Discrepancy theory The concept of discrepancy theory explains the ultimate source of anxiety and dejection. An individual, who has not fulfilled his responsibility feels the sense of anxiety and regret for not performing well, they will also feel dejection due to not being able to achieve their hopes and aspirations. According to this theory, all individuals will learn what their obligations and responsibilities for a particular function, over a time period, and if they fail to fulfil those obligations then they are punished. Over time, these duties and obligations consolidate to form an abstracted set of principles, designated as a self-guide. Agitation and anxiety are the main responses when an individual fails to achieve the obligation or responsibility This theory also explains that if achievement of the obligations is obtained then the reward can be praise, approval, or love. These achievements and aspirations also form an abstracted set of principles, referred to as the ideal self guide. When the individual fails to obtain these rewards, they begin to have feelings of dejection, disappointment, or even depression 5.Equity Discrepancy Theory This is a combination ofequity and discrepancy theories. Under this theory, satisfaction is defined as the difference between the outcomes that one perceives he actually received and outcomes that one feels he should receive in comparison with others. When the individual feels that what he actually received is equal to what he perceives he should receive, there is satisfaction. This model reveals that a persons perception of what he should receive is influenced by the input and output of others. 6. Opponent process theory According to opponent process theory,  emotional events, such as criticisms or rewards, elicits two sets of processes. Primary processes give way to emotions that are steady with the event in question. Events that seem negative in manner will give rise to the feelings of stress or anxiety. Events that are positive give rise to the feeling of content or relaxation. The other process is the opponent process, which induces feelings that contradict the feelings in the primary processes. Events that are negative give rise to feelings of relaxation while events that are positive give rise to feelings of anxiety. A variety of explanations have been suggested to explain the uniformity of mood or satisfaction. This theory shows that if you try to enhance the mood of individual it will more likely fail in doing so. The opponent process theory was formulated to explain these patterns of observations. 7.Social Reference group theory Reference group defined the way an individual look at the world. According to this theory job satisfaction occurs when job meets   the interest, desire and requirements of a persons reference group .in   other word, job satisfaction is a function   of the degree to which the job meets the approval of the group to which the individual looks for guidance in evaluating the world and defining social reality. The social reference group theory is similar to the need fulfilment theory  except that it takes into account not the desires need and interest of the given individual but rather the point of view and opinion of the group to whom the individual looks for guidance. This theory an incomplete explanation to the extent some people are independent of group opinions and group pressure.